Surrogate Mother
by Tatyana Bulanova
Summary: When Linka takes a mysterious trip to Thailand, she returns with two surprises: clouded leopard cubs! She and the other Planeteers must raise the endangered cubs. Will the two cubs help Wheeler and Linka draw closer together, or will they be such work t


Note: I have done as much research as possible to aid this fiction and its realism. Most things are as close to factual as I can find. Visit the Clouded Leopard Project website for more information! Mother (working title) 

_By Chesney Young_

Linka had been gone to Thailand for a whole week, but to Wheeler it seemed much longer. The days were going by more slowly; the nights, more restless. He missed her no matter how much he denied it to the others. It was shaping up to be another lazy, restless day on Hope Island with nothing to do but wonder when Linka would come back. Wheeler, Gi, Ma-Ti, and Kwame were all in the Crystal Chamber with Gaia.

"When is she coming back?" Wheeler had wanted to know.

"She'll be back sooner than you know, Wheeler," said Gaia, smiling secretively, almost impishly.

"I wonder if she's having a good time," Gi mused out loud, fiddling with a Hello Kitty fan which she had acquired in Japan some time ago. It was a hot day, ideal for fanning one's self.

Kwame was playing with a paddle ball, trying to beat his record of five-hundred and six consecutive strikes.

"Well, she was certainly avoiding any questions we asked her about why she was going, or where exactly in Thailand," said Ma-Ti thoughtfully.

"Gaia, you know more than you're telling," pushed Wheeler.

Gaia smirked. "Maybe. I can safely say you will all be very surprised when she returns!"

Kwame continued counting, up to three-hundred and seventy-something; no one was really listening, each lost in his or her own thoughts and wondering what would be so surprising when Linka returned, and why she had gone, and why she had been so secretive of her motives…

Thoughts, reveries, and paddle-ball records were interrupted as the unmistakable sound of the Geocruiser was heard. Each Planeteer got up and rushed out to greet Linka.

"She's back!" Wheeler called, running to the Geocruiser to see Linka.

The four Planeteers crowded around the Geocruiser and waited for their Russian friend to emerge. The hatch opened, and a Thai man's face appeared at the doorway, smiling at the confused Planeteers. Kwame and Ma-Ti looked at each other, wondering what exactly was going on. Gi had an eager though surprised look on her face, as if waiting for an explanation, and expecting it to be something neat. Wheeler was trying to peer past the Thai man for a glimpse of Linka.

A helicopter which had gone unnoticed in the excitement was indeed noticed as it came closer to the island, and set itself down behind the Geocruiser, where it idled. No one emerged from the helicopter.

The Thai man climbed out, and shook each of the Planeteers' hands. There was still no sign of Linka, which was becoming disheartening to Wheeler.

"What is that helicopter doing?" asked Gi.

"Hello! My name is Sunan," the man explained eagerly. "That is just my ride back to Thailand," he gestured towards the helicopter. "I am from the Khao Kheow Zoo in Thailand, and I am most pleased to meet the fosters!"

"Fosters?" asked Kwame, extremely confused. At that point, Linka emerged very slowly and very gracefully with a large animal carrier, moving softly as if to refrain from disturbing what might be inside. Linka gave a soft smile to all of her friends as she set the carrier down very gently and wiped a drop of sweat from her brow.

"Hello, everyone. Have you met Sunan?" she asked. The others nodded, staring at the carrier and trying to see what was inside it.

Wheeler was extremely glad to see Linka at last and walked up to her and hugged her tightly. "Welcome back, babe! What's in the box?"

His question was greeted by smiles from both Linka and Sunan. "Nu, Yankee, first let us carry them into the Crystal Chamber, where I may explain some things. Everyone, follow me." Linka picked up the carrier, which seemed to be awfully heavy in her hands, but she was very careful and graceful with it despite its weight. Sunan was close behind Linka, almost skipping behind her, he seemed so happy. Gi had to keep watch on her pace; she was so eager, she almost ran ahead of Linka several times.

They reached the Crystal Chamber where Gaia waited expectantly. "So, how was your trip, Linka?" asked the spirit of the earth. Linka presented the carrier to Gaia, setting it on the stone slab in the center of the Crystal Chamber.

"See for yourself, Gaia," Linka smiled back. Turning to everyone behind her, Linka asked, "please seat yourselves on the couch. You will see what I have brought in good time, but for now, we do not want to scare them." The Planeteers quelled their eagerness and did as Linka asked, including Sunan who sat on the edge of the couch by Gi. After the Planeteers and Sunan had seated themselves, Linka opened the carrier in front of Gaia, who reached in slowly, softly, and gently pulled out a leopard cub. Gasps and excited chattering ensued from the group. Linka smiled to them and reached in, pulling out yet another cub and cradling it against her chest, where it chirped insistently.

Gi restrained herself from getting up. "Oh, Linka! They're beautiful! May I pet it?" she asked.

"Da, Gi. Come up quietly."

The Asian girl got up and strode over to Linka and reached a timid hand out to pet the fuzz on the kitten's head. The kitten chirped in reply, quite loudly. Gi withdrew her hand in surprise and looked questioningly at Linka, who reassured her.

"Do not worry, Gi," said Linka, chuckling. "Leopard kittens chirp loudly all the time. You did not harm it."

Gi smiled at this and reached her hand out to stroke the softness of newborn kitten fur again. Gi stared, mesmerized by the enchanting cub. Gaia smiled, holding her own cub.

"Planeteers, these are special animals. They are clouded leopards. They are very rare, an endangered species. They have been hunted a long time for their coats, and that has severely depleted their population."

"Who could ever harm such a lovely creature," whispered Gi into the kitten's ear.

"Linka has done a lot of research on them and has asked me if it would be alright for her to become a surrogate mother to these cubs."

"What that means," Gaia continued, "is that she is going to raise these cubs exactly as their mother would, only in captivity until they are old enough to be bred with other clouded leopards, where they will most likely be returned to Khao Kheow Zoo in Thailand, or another zoo."

"Taking on these cubs is a big responsibility, I know, but I am confident I can do a good job. The jungle here on Hope Island will be a perfect place for them to get accustomed to their natural way of living when they are old enough. Spending 80 of the time in the canopies of the trees, having a real jungle here is definitely handy," Linka added.

Sunan stood up, smiling, and walked over, petting the cub along with Gi. "I know you will do a wonderful job of raising these cubs, Linka. Thank you for being a surrogate mother for them!"

"Thank you for letting me," smiled Linka.

Ma-Ti watched from the couch, enthralled. Kwame and Wheeler were exchanging intrigued comments about the kittens to each other. "I wonder how it will be," asked Ma-Ti.

"This is gonna be so cool!" said Wheeler.

"I am amazed that is what she was arranging the entire time!" said Kwame in awe.

"Well, if everything is all settled," said Sunan after the chattering had come to a hush, "I will be headed back to Thailand now." Gaia nodded to Sunan and smiled at him. Sunan smiled back at Gaia, and gave the kittens one last pet. "Goodbye, Linka, and take care of my precious cubs. I know you will make a great surrogate mother for them!"

Linka smiled at Sunan in response, and watched the man head out back towards the helicopter. After a moment, the sound of the propellers grew faint and she knew Sunan had left, signifying her complete responsibility of the two lives in her and Gaia's hands. Everyone stood up and walked over to see the new cubs who were chirping rather loudly. Their eyes were not even open, though their spots were already formed clearly.

"Some say the spots resemble clouds. That is how these leopards got their names. Because their spots are so unusual, that is why they are hunted more often than regular leopards," Linka explained. "For now, while they are newborns, I shall keep them in a pen I have built in my room. While they are growing, I will build a bigger pen outside for them, and when they outgrow that, they can roam in a special area of the jungle here on Hope Island until they are old enough to be mated. Then they will have to be returned to a zoo." Linka watched the cub as if she were already dreading the day she would have to say goodbye to her two beautiful cubs.

"Have you thought of names for them yet, Linka?" asked Ma-Ti.

"Well, no. I will have to wait and see what their personalities are like before I can name them," replied Linka.

"What a responsibility you have taken on. Please do not be afraid to ask us for help if you find it overwhelming. We would love the chance to spend time with the kittens," Kwame informed her.

"Thank you, Kwame. Of course you may visit the kittens any time, and any help is appreciated. I think it would be very nice if we raised them together, as a group."

Though it was true Linka had spent a great deal of time researching the responsibilities it took to commit to raising clouded leopard cubs, the fact could not be denied that she had never raised a wild animal before. The actuality of the situation, she knew, would be much more difficult and involved, although rewarding, than simply researching it. She knew it would be a long, hard several weeks of rearing the cubs as their mother would, and she would need as much help as was graciously proffered.

"Here, Gi," said Gaia, handing the kitten to slim, black-haired girl. "You and Linka go ahead and take them to her room." Gi took the kitten gently, holding it like a baby. It was not chirping and looked exhausted.

"It's falling asleep in my arms," Gi said, wide-eyed with awe. Kwame walked beside Gi as they made their way to Linka's hut. Ma-Ti walked between Linka and Gi so he could keep looking at both kittens, and Wheeler walked to the other side of Linka, reaching out to gently ruffle the kitten's head fur now and again. Quiet chirps from Linka's kitten ensued down the entire path until they reached Linka's hut. Wheeler held the door open for Linka and Gi who entered, followed by Ma-Ti and Kwame.

Wheeler flicked the lights on and saw the pen Linka had built: a white cage with large metal bars, large enough for the kittens to run around in it, soft blankets bunched up for bedding, and lots of stuffed toys for them to romp with. Linka opened the pen and gently set her kitten down in some of the bedding. Gi took Linka's lead and set her kitten down by the other one. Gi's kitten curled up next to Linka's, which elicited another chirp from it.

"I bet they are hungry by now. They ate a few times on the way back home, but they need to be fed every three hours for the first week," Linka said, turning to her computer desk and getting two bottles and two formula packets. "Gi, will you plug the heating pad in?" asked Linka, pointing to a cord that was coming out from under the blankets beneath the cubs.

"Every three hours!" Wheeler guffawed as Gi plugged in the heating pad.

"Da, Wheeler. Why does that surprise you? You eat every three hours," teased Linka.

"Bah," said Wheeler, waving his hand dismissively in the air.

"They must be kept warm with the heating pad because they do not have the ability to regulate their temperature very well yet," Linka explained. "Keep them warm and feel free to stroke them so they have some sort of stimulation. I will go heat their formula up and I will return in a few moments." Linka left the hut in a hurry.

"Wow, I had no idea there was so much to raising these cubs. Every three hours? How will she sleep?" said Gi, kneeling down to stroke the cubs.

"I guess that's what we're here for. We offered to help, so we will," said Wheeler.

"It feels so good to be contributing to saving these beautiful endangered creatures," said Ma-Ti. Kwame put a hand on Ma-Ti's shoulder.

"That's just the kind of thing we Planeteers do."

"She seems pretty prepared though. She has everything all set up and knows all these facts. It's like she's done this before or something," said Wheeler, peering over Gi's shoulder to get a look at the kittens.

"She may have been trained slightly while she was in Thailand," said Gi.

"They are just so cute!" exclaimed Ma-Ti. "I wonder when their eyes will open."

"Aren't their spots soooo cute?" asked Gi.

Gi and Ma-Ti continued to coo at the kittens and fuss over them until Linka came back with two bottles. "Who would like to help me feed the kittens?" asked Linka.

Gi and Ma-Ti immediately made a fuss and raised their hands. "Me, me!" they cried in unison. Linka chuckled.

"Very well, you can both feed them. Here," said Linka, handing them each a warmed bottle of cub formula. Gi and Ma-Ti took the bottles eagerly and pulled the cubs closer to them, putting the nipples to the cubs' mouths. The cubs squeaked but did not suckle. "It may take a lot of patience and time to get them to learn to suckle from the bottle," Linka said as she saw the worry spread over their faces. "Keep trying. And maybe if you squeeze a little formula out into their mouths so that they can taste it, they will realize it is a food source."

"Good idea," said Gi. She tried this, and the kitten swallowed what was squirted into his mouth, but still failed to suckle from the bottle. Ma-Ti's kitten was beginning to chew the nipple, which made the formula dribble out slowly, but it was at least a start. Linka sat back on her bed and breathed a sigh of exhaustion. Wheeler accompanied her while Kwame watched the other two continue to coerce the kittens to suckle.

"Long trip, huh?" he asked.

"Longer than I thought. But I had so much fun! You would have loved the food. They showed me the whole zoo, and then let me sit behind the glass while the mother gave birth to them!" Linka prattled excitedly.

"You know, you never even told us if they were boys or girls," he said.

"Oh, yes! The chirpy one is the boy and the quiet one is the girl," she said.

"Ah, a brother-sister pair, eh?" he said.

"Da. I am very excited to rear them, but I know it is going to be very exhausting," she said to Wheeler.

"They're suckling! Well, sort of," said Gi. Wheeler and Linka got up to see. It was true, the kittens were suckling now and again as evidenced by the bubbles rising in the formula, but it was still taking quite a bit of coaxing, as the kittens weren't used to suckling from the bottles yet.

"Good job!" exclaimed Linka.

"Mind if I try?" asked Wheeler.

"Sure," said Gi, handing him the bottle and moving out of the way so Wheeler could kneel in her place. Linka couldn't help chuckling to herself at the way Wheeler was holding the bottle, definitely awkward in his hands. Wheeler gently pushed the bottle towards the male kitten, and Linka's chuckling was silenced by a gasp in surprise as the kitten immediately began suckling.

"Guess I just have a way with kids," Wheeler winked at Linka.

"That is amazing, Yankee! It usually takes a very long time to get them to start suckling!" Ma-Ti's kitten was still gumming on the nipple.

"Here, see if you can get this one to suckle, Wheeler," said Ma-Ti, giving Wheeler his bottle.

"I will take over with this one, Wheeler," said Kwame, wanting to get a chance to try feeding.

"Okay, I'll do my best." Wheeler took the bottle Ma-Ti had offered and gently pushed it against the female's nose. Miraculously, she began suckling just as her brother had done.

"Nu, I think we have our feeder, no?" said Linka, quite amazed.

"Does that mean you're going to be waking me up every three hours?" Wheeler asked. Linka just giggled in response.

Within a few moments, the cubs had finished the milk. "Now we must burp them. I was shown how in Thailand. Here, hand me a cub," said Linka. Ma-Ti handed her the female cub and Linka began to lightly bounce the cub, stroking its belly and gently patting it. "Go ahead, Kwame, pick up the other one and give it a try." Kwame did so. After several minutes, both cubs had burped and were put back on the warmed blankets. "And I'll have to do this all over again in just three more hours," said Linka.

Everyone looked exhausted at the thought. "Let me know what names you come up with, Linka," said Gi. "I'm going to go to my room for a while and let the cubs sleep for now."

"That sounds like a good idea. Come on, Ma-Ti. Let us go to the beach for a while," said Kwame.

"Alright. I'm so excited we get to keep these cubs for so long!" Ma-Ti replied. Everyone cleared out leaving the cubs, Wheeler, and Linka.

"They are sleeping so peacefully," Linka said to Wheeler, watching the cubs snooze.

"Nice change of pace. That chirping was sort of annoying. But they sure are cute little buggers," he said, smiling at Linka and the cubs.

"They are." Linka looked at the clock. It was a quarter to one. She yawned. Her trip had utterly spent her and she was more than overworked. Watching the cubs sleeping so soundly made her want to sleep as well. "Well, I think I am going to take a nap," she announced.

"Do you want me to feed them around fourish for you so you can sleep longer?" asked Wheeler.

"Oh, that is a very sweet offer, Wheeler." Linka looked as if she were pondering whether to reply positively or negatively. She thought about how he had so easily gotten the cubs to suckle from their bottles, and figured he would have no trouble. "Well," Linka said after some hesitancy, "I suppose that would be alright. You know how to burp them, yes?" she asked.

"I know what to do, yeah," he said.

"Then alright. But if you have any trouble, any at all, wake me up so I can help."

"You got it."

"Thank you, Wheeler."

"No problem, babe. Sleep tight."

Linka turned over on her bed, Wheeler sitting at the foot of it. Wheeler got up and turned off the light, then came back over to Linka, pulling the covers up over her and tucking her in. _That was sweet of him,_ she thought before almost immediately drifting into a deep sleep. Not a single chirp or whimper or whine disturbed her entire slumber.

When she at last awoke, Wheeler's silhouette was barely visible against the fiery orange of the sunset sifting in through the crevices of her blinds. She sat up in bed and turned her lamp setting on low, just high enough to give off a faint light so she could see most of what was in her room without assailing her unready pupils. She looked at the clock: 7:45. The cubs would have just been fed not long ago.

"Wheeler?" she asked in a sleep-soaked voice. Wheeler's form stirred.

"Oh, hey babe," he said. She could tell he was holding one of the cubs and stroking its belly softly.

"Which one do you have?" she asked, stretching.

"The boy," he replied. "You know, you really have to come up with names for these guys."

"Did you have any trouble with the feeding or burping?" Linka put her legs over the side of her bed and sat there a moment, trying to wake up.

"Nope. Both ate like champs, both burped."

"I forgot to tell you how much formula to give them," she said, gasping.

"No sweat, babe. I saw how much you gave them last time: one packet each. The packets say how much formula it'll make."

"Oh, smart. Did you remember to warm it up first?"

"I did," said Wheeler.

_Perhaps he is no so incapable of things after all!_ she thought.

"They've been as good as gold," he said, stroking the kitten's belly. "But I'm getting awfully tired, so if you don't mind, I'd like to go relax, maybe take a hot bath."

"No, of course. They are my responsibility, after all. None of you have to do anything, but I do appreciate your help," said Linka as she got up and walked over to Wheeler to pet the kitten he was holding. Wheeler handed the kitten over to her, which she held like a baby, and stood up, stretching. He had been sitting far too long.

"Now, about that hot, steamy bath… Wanna join me?" grinned Wheeler, knowing he was safe from a slap as both of her arms were holding a cub. Instead, he got an icy glare.

"Out, Yankee."

"That's the thanks I get," Wheeler teased on his way out. The rest of the evening passed with a visit from Kwame, a visit from Ma-Ti, and two visits from Gi, who offered to help feed the cubs. Around four in the morning, Linka had finished feeding and burping the cubs yet again, and had put them back to rest. She flopped on her bed, wanting to sleep more than three hours very badly.

"Six more days of this," she said out loud to herself. "Maybe this was more than I bargained for." She took a look in the mirror at herself, and even from on her bed she could see the dark circles under her eyes. "I just hope I can do this," she said to her reflection. She set her alarm for the next feeding at seven and practically passed out on her bed. The first night had gone exceptionally well.

Five more days passed without many hitches, each Planeteer graciously offering time from his or her day to help Linka feed and burp the cubs. Neither of them were walking yet, nor were their eyes open, and Linka still had not come up with a name for either of them. They didn't have many distinguishing characteristics as far as their personalities went other than the boy was easier to coax into eating (typical of males) and was noisier than his sister. The lack of their personalities made it hard to come up with suitable names. So far, everyone had just been calling the cubs "the boy" and "the girl," respectively, or occasionally "the brother" or "the sister."

It was a lot of hard work to feed and burp them every three hours, and it was showing in all of the Planeteers' faces. Linka couldn't help feeling guilty, even though the Planeteers were offering their help. Everyone looked so tired. The kittens were taking their toll.

Everyone was seated at the table for dinner, Gi serving Italian dishes of pastas, breads, and soups. The cubs were the topic of the evening.

"The kittens are a lot of work," said Ma-Ti.

"They are," said Gi, serving the final dish and seating herself. After seeing the look on Linka's face, she hastily added, "Oh, but they're really worth it. I enjoy feeding and burping them, and petting them." Gi could tell that made Linka feel slightly better. Everyone ate until his belly was full. By the time dinner was over, Linka had to feed and burp the kittens again.

"Well, tomorrow is the last day they have to be fed every three hours. They should be old enough to increase the amount of time between feedings, as long as we continue to increase the amount of formula given to them," Linka said, taking her plate and putting it in the sink, and excusing herself to go feed the cubs again.

"Whew," said Kwame when Linka had left. "They are a lot of work!"

"You said it," said Wheeler.

"At least tomorrow is the last day we have to feed them every three hours," Gi said, twirling some pasta about her fork.

The next week held a miraculous breakthrough: the cubs had both opened their eyes, and were slightly motile in their pen. The female had navy blue eyes, and the male had dark amber eyes. The second week passed faster, having been able to reduce the number of feedings and getting more sleep. At week three, their tiny teeth had started to emerge, and they were able to wander a little bit farther from their warmed blankets to explore the plush toys that were starting to dwarf the cubs a little less each day as they grew slightly bigger. The cubs were beginning to have their regular formula mixed with turkey baby food to introduce them to the flavor of meat.

Linka sat in her room in her chair, holding the blue-eyed female, while the male, now quite large with developed vision, romped about the pen, pouncing the dolls and stuffed animals. From day one, the female had been quieter and more sedated. That aspect of their personalities was still true. Now that the cubs were seeing and moving around their pen, walking and playing, they were definitely developing more individualistic personalities.

The male wandered out of the pen and rubbed himself against Linka's legs, chirping at her, then pounced an invisible prey that lurked beneath the skirt of Linka's bed. Linka giggled and moved to the foot of the bed, holding the sleepy female who peered at her through narrow slits of eyes. At that point, a knock came on Linka's door.

"Come in," she called. The door opened to reveal Wheeler.

"Hey, babe. How's it going? Thought I'd come to see the kittens. Man, they're huge!"

"I know! They have grown so much since we got them!"

"Yeah, they used to fit in one hand. Now they're the size of babies. Big babies!" Linka giggled as Wheeler joined her at the foot of the bed. Suddenly, Wheeler lurched in surprise as the boy attacked his sneaker laces from under Linka's bed. Looking down, Wheeler saw two large paws coming out from under her bed locked in a death grip on his shoelaces. "Ack! Hey, buddy," Wheeler said, tugging the cat out from under the bed and pulling him up into his lap to give him a playful noogy. The cub responded by playfully biting Wheeler's noogying hand, though not enough to hurt.

"You will be happy to know that I think I have come up with names for them both," Linka said, surprising Wheeler.

"Oh? What names?"

"Well, I will call the boy Mung. It just suits him. And I will call the girl Toma."

"You know, I think you're right. Those are pretty good names."

"Thank you," Linka smiled at Wheeler. The couple held the cubs for a while, and Mung settled down in Wheeler's arms.

"You've really done a great job raising them, Linka," said Wheeler, smiling. It was obvious the kittens had really bonded to her.

"Thank you, Wheeler. They are starting to get too big for the pen though. Probably next week, I will have to move them outside." Wheeler scooted closer without waking the sleeping Mung and stood up to walk over to the pen and set Mung down into the blankets.

"Well, if you want to get them outside by next week," he said, sitting back down beside Linka, who had put Toma at the top of her bed on her pillows to give her arms a break, "shouldn't you start building that pen today?"

"Oh, the pen they have now is expandable. I have the other pieces in my closet. It will only take a few minutes and a screwdriver to pop the pieces into place," she said. Toma watched the two through sleepy eyes. Toma watched Wheeler scoot closer to Linka and observed their talking. She wasn't getting attention any more. It wasn't fair.

"I think you're a great mother to these cubs," said Wheeler in a softer voice. Linka just smiled and looked down at her hands, clasping them in her lap. "And I think you would make a great mother to some lucky children some day, too," he added, leaning in towards Linka, now almost whispering. Linka looked at him, surprised, and saw how close he was. When she caught a glimpse of his lips, and could feel the warmth of his breath, she began to close her eyes and lean in further towards Wheeler.

_This is finally it,_ she thought. _I am finally kissing him!_ Their lips met, each surprised by the warmth of the other's. A silence fell over the room for a brief moment as the two kissed. Then Toma's loud chirp sounded in their ears, forcing the couple apart in surprise. Toma took the opportunity to nestle in between them while they had parted, and rolled over on her belly between their laps, looking up innocently, as if to say, "Well, you weren't paying attention to me! Now rub my belly!"

Linka blushed furiously and giggled at Toma, keeping her eyes on the cub and off Wheeler, lest she blush even deeper. Wheeler cleared his throat, obviously embarrassed as well. "Ahem. Well then, I guess I'll get going. Way to ruin the moment, Toma," said Wheeler to the kitten, who looked back at him as though she had no idea what he was talking about. Wheeler left Linka's hut, which was in quite a bit of disarray due to the playful, curious nature of two clouded leopard cubs.

Linka got up after rubbing Toma's belly to her computer and started typing up her progress report to send to Sunan on the progression of the cubs. Hopefully this activity would take her mind of what had just transpired.

After about a paragraph into it, Linka was disturbed by the tipping over of her trashcan, papers flying everywhere. "Mung!" Mung had woken back up and decided that the waste basket was now extremely fascinating. Linka sighed, smiled, and uprighted her basket again, putting all the papers back into it. She returned her attention to her progress report. Only seconds later was the waste basket tipped over again, Mung inside and only his tail and hindquarters sticking out.

"How am I supposed to get any work done?" This pattern of behavior continued until Linka got tired of straightening her trashcan every five seconds and decided to just let Mung explore what he pleased. She would straighten everything up when Mung tired himself out. She comforted herself in knowing they would not be in her room to tear it apart much longer. Still, she was kind of sad at the idea of having to keep the cubs outside. She would miss them living in her room. Although their curiosity was annoying, it could be just as endearing.

That evening as the cubs slept, Linka took apart their cage and arranged the pieces outside by her hut. Screwdriver in hand, Linka began to masterfully reassemble the cage, fitting in the larger pieces to expand it while the cubs slept, Mung on Linka's bed, Toma curled up in the fleecy blankets where the old pen had been. A shadow blew over Linka's workspace and she turned around to see Wheeler. "Oh, hello."

"Hey, need some help?" he said. Linka shifted, slightly uncomfortable at remembering their kiss, brief as it was. They hadn't spoke about it since, or spoken much at all to each other since that time for that matter. It seemed as if Wheeler had sort of been avoiding her, and she seemed to be avoiding him.

"Oh, no thank you, I have it all under control," she smiled at him, trying to get over the uncomfortable feeling.

"You sure? Looks like it could take a while with just one person," he urged. She looked at the parts. There were only a few left. Maybe he was desperate to sit with her. Should she let him?

"Uh, o-okay, then, I will just go get another screwdriver. Wait here," she said, getting up as he sat down. She went into her hut and closed the door, sighing and holding her stomach which seemed to have been overtaken by squirming butterflies. _This is so uncomfortable,_ she thought. _Oh well, I shall just pretend it never happened. That will solve it._

She retrieved the extra screwdriver and brought it back outside, where Wheeler was sitting down with the other screwdriver in his hand, looking at the directions. He looked up at her as she sat down across from him. She handed him a piece. "I think that piece goes where you are at right now. I can fit this one in while you apply that piece," she said. She grabbed a piece for herself and they both worked in silence. _This is uncomfortable,_ she thought. _At least it's better than talking about what happened._

After about fifteen minutes, the new cage was complete and much, much larger than it had been to accommodate two leopard cubs who were also much, much larger than they had been. "Well, thank you for your help, Wheeler."

"Sure thing. Anything else I can do?" he asked.

"Sure. Help me bring the cats into their new cage. You get Mung and I will get Toma," she said. They walked into Linka's hut, each grabbing a cat and taking them outside to the new environment that they had just built. Although their personalities distinguished them enough, and Toma had a few extra spots on her nose, the cats had still been adorned with colored collars to aid in differentiating between them. Mung boasted a navy blue collar quite proudly, and Toma wore a light pink collar.

When the two cats had been moved to their new cage, they sniffed curiously at the giant tree logs that had been placed in it. These logs were ideal for climbing and getting them used to the feel of trees, where they would spend most of their lives, Linka had said. Mung immediately pounced on the new log, sinking his claws into the trunk. Linka and Wheeler could tell the natural instinct was coming out. Toma, in the meantime, had busied herself with a ball that was almost as big as she was.

"I will have to start walking them now, daily. They are getting large and need much more exercise than the room in the cage can offer," Linka informed Wheeler.

"I'd be happy to walk Mung and you can walk Toma, if you like. With only one leopard to walk, it might make it easier," he replied. Linka had only been making small talk and was not prepared for such an offer. While it may end up being uncomfortable the first couple of days they walked together, she was sure the feeling would diminish, and that aside, she could use his help.

"That sounds like a good idea, Wheeler," she said. "For now, we should let them get used to their new surroundings. But tomorrow, we must start walking them." Wheeler nodded and turned, heading towards his hut. Linka watched him go.

* * *

**_AN: I have a lot planned for this story, but it is unlikely I will be working on it any time soon, as I am quite busy with other projects. Please read and review. Comments appreciated._**


End file.
